Comrades Marathon: The Ultimate Human Race, Part 1

"This is a lube and salt race"

The 85th running of the legendary Comrades Marathon–the world's oldest and largest ultramarathon–will take place on Sunday, May 30. The grueling 55.47-mile race (slightly longer this year) begins at City Hall in Pietermaritzburg with a rather cruel downhill portion before traversing five big "hills" on the way to the Sahara Stadium finish in Durban.

The top American runners entered in the race include Running Times blogger and USATF 50K national champion Michael Wardian, 50K American record-holder Josh Cox, 2010 Miwok 100K winner Kami Semick and three-time Western States 100M champion Nikki Kimball. Although he may not be competing to win, Running Times Trail Editor Adam Chase will be another recognizable American face on the course this year. He'll be sending updates from South Africa over the next few days; stay tuned for more of his first-person perspective on the ultimate human race.

Part 1: May 26, 2010

Embarking to South Africa

As I packed last night and this morning for what will be 28 hours of travel that begins in less than an hour, I went through the normal pre-race checklist and did my little mental inventory as a self-assurance exercise. Only this time things were a little different. First of all, I was packing road running shoes. As the Trail Editor of Running Times it was odd to be gearing up for a 56-mile road race and my pre-race worry has to do with the pounding of the pavement more than the distance. But this will be the biggy. A runner’s bucket list race; one that is billed as the “Ultimate Human Race” that is run by what will likely be more than 17,000 entrants. So, being an ultra, the packing also included salt capsules and skin lube.

In order to gain some confidence that I’ve prepared to run this as a “race” so that I can do more than merely complete Comrades, I’m discounting the jet lag that I’ll surely suffer. I tell myself that I did plenty of miles on roads with back-to-back long runs and adequate hill training. I tick off the things that I can look to as objective indicators of fitness: weighing in at race weight, resting pulse at an almost all-time low, feeling fit on hill repeats and repeat speed sessions, and nothing more than a sore left foot from the road training but hopefully just a “niggle” that will feel better after the pre-race travel-enforced downtime. The excitement of something so monumental and the momentum of knowing that South Africa is shining in its pre-World Cup polish and that a strong contingent of Americans will be at the race serve as a red carpet that is rather inviting. So let the travel begin.